Pretty Little Liars
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Screen for YOUR familyParent's Guide to Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars is an American teen drama mystery thriller television series that aired for seven seasons, based on Sara Shepard's novel series. Set in the fictional town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania, the narrative follows four high school best friends – Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer – whose lives are turned upside down after the disappearance of their clique leader, Alison DiLaurentis. They begin receiving threatening messages from a mysterious anonymous tormentor known as 'A,' who knows all their deepest secrets. The series delves into themes of friendship, secrets, lies, identity, and the constant psychological torment inflicted by 'A,' which evolves in identity throughout the show. The content is generally aimed at a teenage and young adult audience, featuring mature themes, suspense, and mystery elements.
Things to Consider
LGBTQ & Gender Identity
The series features prominent and recurring LGBTQ+ representation, primarily through the character of Emily Fields, who is openly lesbian. Her storylines involve significant romantic relationships with other female characters, her coming-out journey, and later, forming a family with another female lead, Alison DiLaurentis. This content is central to Emily's character development and a key aspect of the show's later narrative arcs.
Emily Fields engages in long-term romantic relationships with female characters such as Maya St. Germain and Paige McCullers throughout the series. In later seasons, 'A' controversially steals Emily's donor eggs and impregnates Alison DiLaurentis, leading Emily and Alison to raise twin girls together as a couple.
Violence
Violence is a pervasive element, central to the show's mystery-thriller genre. Characters are constantly stalked, blackmailed, and physically harmed by 'A' and other antagonists. The series features multiple murders, attempted murders, and scenes of psychological torture and captivity. While not always overtly graphic in the original series, the implications and depictions of harm are frequent and intense.
Romance and Sexual Content
The series extensively features romantic relationships among teenage characters, often with suggestive undertones and implied sexual activity. A significant and controversial plotline involves a teacher-student relationship. While explicit sexual acts are typically implied or cut away, the frequency of passionate kissing, suggestive dialogue, and romantic entanglements is high.
Substance Use
The series depicts significant issues of substance use and addiction among its characters. This includes the abuse of prescription drugs and mentions of illicit drug use, as well as underage drinking.
Scary & Intense Content
The show is inherently suspenseful and contains frequent scary and intense content. This includes constant stalking, jump scares, psychological manipulation, threats to life, and disturbing reveals. The 'A' storyline creates a persistent atmosphere of dread and fear, with characters often in perilous situations.
Disrespect & Rebellion
Disrespect for authority figures and rebellious behavior are central and recurring themes. The protagonists frequently lie to their parents, the police, and other adults to hide secrets and protect themselves, often leading to more complicated situations. This behavior is normalized as a means of survival within their world.
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Additional Context
Best For Ages
TV-14 (Parents strongly cautioned). This rating is due to pervasive mature themes, including intense violence, strong romantic and sexual content, significant substance abuse storylines, and consistent themes of disrespect and rebellion. While some parents might consider it for mature teens aged 13 or 14, a more appropriate recommendation would be 15+ or 16+ due to the frequency and intensity of the mature content, particularly as the series progresses and in its spin-offs.
Good to Know
The content intensity generally escalates across the seven seasons of the original series. While the initial seasons establish the mystery and psychological torment, later seasons delve deeper into more mature and disturbing plotlines, including increased violence and complex character struggles with addiction and trauma. Spin-offs, like 'Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin' and 'Summer School,' carry a TV-MA rating due to even more explicit violence, sexual assault discussions, and mature language, indicating a darker and more intense progression of the franchise's themes.
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